This invention relates generally to notification systems, and more particularly, to an automated monitoring system for providing user notification and control of user items.
Virtually every item used in daily life incorporates new technology in one form or another. From the simplest consumer products to the most complicated communication systems, new technology provides increased functionality, speed, ease of use and cost efficiency. It is now possible to program home appliances to operate on their own, automatically record television broadcasts or record phone messages when no one is home.
However, even with the most recent improvements in technology, to assure proper operation, people must still personally program and periodically monitor their new equipment. For example, to record a series of future video broadcasts on a video recorder, a person must first program the video recorder with the correct dates and times of the broadcasts. After the programming is complete, the video recorder must be periodically checked to assure proper operation. For example, the user periodically determines that enough recording tape is available, that no jams exist or that the program was not inadvertently erased. Provided the recorder was properly programmed and monitored, the video recorder will record the future broadcasts for later viewing. Thus, new technology has improved people""s lives by providing the capability to do something, such as to record future video broadcasts, that at one time was not possible. However, as seen in this simple example, with the benefit of new technology comes a corresponding requirement for people to learn and keep up to date with the latest technological improvements.
In certain circumstances, a user can subscribe to a centralized monitoring service to assist with the operation and monitoring of sophisticated systems. Home security services are just one example of the types of services that are available. Typically these services install and program security devices and have a centralized office, staffed around the clock, to monitor system operation. When a critical situation occurs, such as a burglary, the office staff can detect it and take action to contact the home owner.
However, technology related services, like the security service, are very expensive and can""t provide all the flexibility and responsiveness users are looking for. For example, if the homeowner knows of a temporary condition that may provide false information to the service, such as a broken window, it can be difficult to update centralized services with this information. This situation could lead to false alarms because basic operating information is incorrect or there exists some confusion among the security staff. Additionally, it may be inconvenient or difficult for homeowners to update the service with frequently changing contact information. As a result, even if proper detection of an alarm condition occurs, the homeowner cannot be located.
Another problem with centralized monitoring services is that the employees of the service sometimes make mistakes. False alarms can occur when an employee misinterprets information provided by the system. Missed alarm conditions can occur if employees fail to properly monitor the system. Even when alarm conditions are properly detected, an employee may be slow to respond or may otherwise fail to take appropriate action. Thus, existing monitoring services can be unreliable, miss alarm conditions, detect false alarms, fail to notify users and can be difficult to update with the most recent operating information. As a result, people would greatly benefit from improvements in notification systems which can overcome the above problems and provide additional user controllable functionality.
One area where it would be desirable to have improved user notification and control is in vehicle monitoring systems. Motor vehicles are attractive targets for theft and vandalism due to their high value and inherent mobility. The development of motor vehicles has been paralleled by the development of alarm systems to protect them. These alarm systems range from simple steering wheel locks to more sophisticated electronic alarm systems. Typically, vehicle alarms try to prevent unauthorized access to the vehicle or removal of the vehicle without the owner""s permission.
A major drawback of many vehicle alarm systems is that the owner may not be alerted to a possible theft until the vehicle has already been taken. Some audible alarm systems provide intrusion alerts to the area immediately surrounding the vehicle, however, the vehicle owner may not be near enough to hear such alerts. In addition, the general public has become so accustomed to hearing these warning sounds that the warnings have lost their effectiveness to deter theft.
Just as in home security systems, expensive centralized services to provide vehicle security are available. In one such service, the owner may report that a vehicle was stolen, at which point, the service activates a location device in an attempt to locate the stolen vehicle. However, the service activation doesn""t occur until the owner reports the vehicle as stolen thereby failing to provide real-time monitoring and control capability.
Although notification services, to monitor user items like homes and cars, provide improvements over simple audible alarms, they are all subject to significant limitations. For example, all the problems discussed above like information updating, operator errors and user interface problems, exist with current notification services. The most significant drawback is that notification services have human operators that are slow and prone to make errors. For example, a monitoring staff employee may be required to look up customer information and manually call any one of several telephone numbers, e.g., home number, work number, cell phone number or pager number to contact the customer. This task may require several minutes to carry out, and in the meantime, a vehicle may be stolen or a home may be vandalized. This delay in an emergency situation is not tolerable. Moreover, a staffed operations center creates a significant cost factor since in addition to the expense of the equipment, office employees are needed around the clock. This situation does not exhibit a positive economy of scale when required to service an increasingly larger customer base.
All these factors combine to show that employee staffed notification services cannot provide a low cost, effective monitoring, notification and control system for a large number of users. What is needed is a low-cost, fully automated notification and control system for providing information about user items. For example, vehicles, homes or office spaces may be examples of user items. The automated system should allow a user to control which specific events or conditions are to be monitored. Indications of the selected conditions should be automatically detected and notification sent to the user without the need of specialized monitoring services usually performed by human operators. A variety of notification devices, such as telephone, facsimile, pager and email should be available to allow users the greatest flexibility when using the system. There should also be user access to the system that allows the user to control and update monitored events, alarm conditions, user notification devices, and contact information.
The present invention provides an automated user notification system for monitoring user items and notifying a user when selected conditions occur. A first portion of the notification system comprises a network operations center (NOC). The NOC stores user information about one or more user items and is further coupled to a plurality of communication devices that can automatically contact a user. A second portion of the notification system comprises at least one detector. The detector monitors one or more user items and provides information regarding selected conditions of the user items to the NOC via a communication link. When the information is received by the NOC, the NOC automatically matches the received information to information stored at the NOC to determine if a condition exists wherein the user should be automatically notified.
In one embodiment of the invention, a user notification system is provided for automatically providing information to a user regarding a user item. The user notification system comprises a detection module coupled to the user item to determine information about the user item. A first communication module is coupled to the detection module which includes logic for communicating the information over a communication link. The information is received by a second communication module that includes logic for receiving the information over the communication link. A processor is coupled to the second communication module is coupled to at least one user notification device.
In another embodiment of the invention, the user notification system comprises a vehicle alarm system. The vehicle alarm system detects intrusion or attempted burglary of the vehicle and provides immediate notification to the vehicle owner if such a condition exists. The system enables the owner to receive data from the vehicle concerning the cause of alarm actuation and to determine vehicle location, status of airbag deployment, and other vehicle parameters. In addition, the system enables the owner to remotely arm or disarm the vehicle alarm, lock or unlock the vehicle doors, start or stop the vehicle engine, and similar control functions.
In another embodiment of the invention, the user notification system comprises a home alarm system that detects emergency conditions, intrusion or burglary of a user""s home. The notification system provides immediate notification to the user of the selected conditions of the user""s home. For example, the status of door sensors, window sensors, smoke detectors, fire and flood sensors are detected and any abnormal condition results in immediate notification to the home owner. The system enables the owner to receive status information about any monitored condition through a variety of interfaces such as over the telephone or over a public information network such as the Internet. In addition, the system enables the owner to remotely arm or disarm selected alarm conditions, and active or deactivate home systems such as heating or hot water systems.